[story][Fenspace Alternates] The South Is Rising, Someone Get A Hammer

[M Fnord]

Well, there's going to be disgruntled parties anyways. And the reaction is going to be a grand "WTF!?" from the danes in general - after all, they never had anything in orbit, period, and we're gonna come swooping down out of nowhere. They're gonna have no reference to go by except for whatever sensational pulps someone may have read.

"THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS. WE KNOW THAT YOU CAN HEAR US, EARTHMEN."

This is going to be troublesome to deal with. As they have no freaking clue as to how to deal with us it will make them unpredictable.

In chaos, there is opportunity.

Depends on how we handle contact. They'll notice the stations in earth orbit and our stuff on the moon. Whole bunch of new lights in orbit will have people pointing telescopes at them.

They'll be able to see the L5 cluster from Earth with naked eyes. A decent pair of binoculars would probably be able to pull out details on the Bernal stations, and a good telescope will get quality images of pretty much anything within the cluster. And that's not counting the monsters like Grover's Corners or Greenwood - or Disney's World, for that matter.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Dakota]

"THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS. WE KNOW THAT YOU CAN HEAR US, EARTHMEN."

"Didn't we tell you not to crank call the locals?"

They'll be able to see the L5 cluster from Earth with naked eyes. A
decent pair of binoculars would probably be able to pull out details on
the Bernal stations, and a good telescope will get quality images of
pretty much anything within the cluster. And that's not counting the
monsters like Grover's Corners or Greenwood - or Disney's World, for
that matter.

Yea I figured there be alot of pants seats turning brown while shoes are filled with liquid.
_______________________________________________________________
Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota

[M Fnord]

"Didn't we tell you not to crank call the locals?"

"One asshole on Point Five can't keep his fucking trap shut, and the entirety of Fenspace is branded for eternity. Of such things is history made."
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

They'll be able to see the L5 cluster from Earth with naked eyes. A decent pair of binoculars would probably be able to pull out details on the Bernal stations, and a good telescope will get quality images of pretty much anything within the cluster.

"I love the new moon - it's so dark, and there's no distractions from seeing the sta... why the heck is Daniell Crater glowing?"

And that's not counting the monsters like Grover's Corners or Greenwood - or Disney's World, for that matter.

"I think we know where in space those 'Mysterions' are. There's an asteroid hovering over Hawai'i - don't ask me how - and it's got what look like two huge circular radio antennas attached to it. The radio boys think they're big enough to generate a signal that can blanket the entire planet..."

[size=smaller](The "don't ask me how" part is because, AFAIK, nobody on TL-191|Earth has had any need to work out the math for a Clarke orbit yet.)[/size]
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

or Disney's World, for that matter.

...and just what will the suits on the corporate worldlets be doing at a time like this? Especially those that had lots of groundside power structures above them?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

or Disney's World, for that matter.

...and just what will the suits on the corporate worldlets be doing at a time like this? Especially those that had lots of groundside power structures above them?

"Disney's World: A Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of StellviaCorp."

Or not, considering that Noah's cut and run. Although Yayoi and Kagome do need a base of operations somewhere...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

Or not, considering that Noah's cut and run.

Yeah, about that...

Mal: "So, d'ya think he's going to pull a runner?"

Sora: "Well... I think he'll consider it, but in the end he won't."

Mal: /Spock eyebrow. "Really?"

Sora: "Really."

Mal: "You think that he'll have a moral epiphany and realize that running away from problems and abandoning his friends won't solve anything?"

Sora: "No, I think the kill-switch Kohran and I installed in his panic button will keep him from running away."

Mal: / o_O "..."

Sora: / ^_^ "Though he might have the epiphany later."

Mal: "I am so turned on right now."

GLaDOS: /Ruin-the-moment-no-jutsu! "Me too."
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

"Ah, Sora, Sora, Sora... it's so cute that you thought that the panic button does anything other than trigger a 'blue alert' code in Engineering. Takami's somewhat-competent with hardware, is better at software than you and Kohran put together, and is the sort who will cut and run if given a chance. I have to order her to stay at her desk sometimes. Given the choice between my letting Takami mess with the engines and Kohran doing the work herself, which do you think will happen if I start Plan 3?"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

OOC: Redacted. If we keep up this game of one-upsmanship we're just going to end up in a flamewar. Again.

Summary ruling: If the consensus turns South Is Rising from a US-only-shift to a world-shift, and if the situation seems to require Stellvia and Noah Scott's particular talents, then Contingency Plan #3 will fail due to Act of Plot. The particulars can be discussed when necessary.

SO SPEAKS GALACTUS THE MOD.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Black Aeronaut]

OOC: How the hell did that happen?  Yuku is a piece of shit when it comes to time-stamps.

[Foxboy]

I'd prefer the US-only shift myself. For an example of just what the world can get up to without the US: I recommend "Without Warning" and "after America" by John Birmingham

See, if the US is effectively "Third World country, like it should be (non-America-centric worldview example)," then they can get on with what's really important: Shelling the F$CK out of Seoul/Tokyo/Taiwan/Jerusalem/Capital of Breakaway Soviet Republic du Jour, etc., While listening to France ineffectually grousing that the active parties shouldn't be doing it from the secondary UN HQ in Geneva, Switzerland.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Dakota]

I'm for the whole world shift as it would have a bigger impact on the fen. Instead of them having to play world police to keep the planet from going down the drain. Also it would also be a clean slate when dealing with the 'dane.
_______________________________________________________________
Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota

[M Fnord]

Hey, content!

This is (part of) a reworked opening for the whole megillah. What's in the OP works as a premise starter, but it lacks... oomph. This should read better. There's more on the way as I work on it, including some moments before the Event on both sides of the multiversal barrier (introducing one of my favorite characters from TL-191!), and that'll be added as it comes in. --Mal

ETA: I should note that this is aimed at a US-shift scenario, but can be tweaked to fit a world-shift if Consensus goes that way. --Mal

---

Korolev Air Force Base, Luna
19 November 2016, 00:01 LST

The dimensional incursion detector on Sora’s workbench warbled, the diagnostic screen filling with information. The warble became a screech, and as Sora hastily reached to cut the power it died with a flash and a puff of smoke.

“GAH!” Sora yelped; the dying act of the detector burning her fingertips. “Itte...”

Mal stuck his head back in the workroom door. “You okay, Sora?”

“Yeah, yeah... just a little singed.”

“What happened?”

“It blew up on me!”

“Isn’t that what Kohran’s inventions usually do?” Mal asked. Sora gave him a dirty look.

“This one shouldn’t have. It’s been tested and we both certified it bug-free. Furthermore-”

What Sora was about to say was cut off by the base alarm system going off at full blast. “Attention all personnel,” GLaDOS’s voice sounded, “VVS datasystems are under class one infowar attack. Network lockdown initiated. Central Committee please report to the situation room. All non-essential personnel are to remain at Condition Two status. Repeat, VVS datasystems are under class one infowar attack. Network lockdown initiated. Central Committee please report to the situation room.”

Mal and Sora looked at each other, and he slammed down on the nearest intercom button. “GLaDOS, sitrep,” Mal ordered.

“General, your presence is required in the situation room.”

“I got that part. Summary please.”

“At zero-hundred hours VVS datasystems lost major internet connectivity on the terrestrial backbone. I concluded the network was under denial-of-service attack and sounded Condition Two. A full briefing will be available in the situation room.”

“Zero-hundred hours...” Sora looked thoughfully at the broken incursion detector.

“I don’t like what you’re thinking,” Mal said.

“Neither do I. GLaDOS, please grab the raw data from the laptop on my bench and move it into a navigational database accessible from the situation room, thank you.”

“Easier done than said, O Captain. Anything else? Doors opened?”

“Yes, please. Call Stellvia, priority channel. I need to talk to Kohran.”

Main Operations Center, Stellvia Station

The first indication anyone had that anything was wrong was when the DQS alarm went off. The second indication was when the DQS detector exploded.

“What the hell did you do, Ray?!”

“Not my fault, I swear to God it’s not my fault.” The duty officer thumbed the intercom. “Commander Scott and Engineer Li to Ops.”

Kohran was the first to arrive, as the duty tech finished emptying a fire extinguisher on the abused DQS detection console. “Wah!” she cried. “What happened?!”

“Don’t know, ma’am,” the duty officer replied. “The DQS alarm went off and a second later the console blew up. Other than making sure there was no fire, we haven’t touched it.”

“Blew up?” Kohran said, confused. “It’s not supposed to do that. Let me take a look,” she said, scooting under the damaged console, tools in hand.

Noah Scott strode into the operations center. “Report.”

The duty officer swiveled her display so Noah could see. “Three minutes ago we had a massive DQS event. It was big enough that it fried the sensor.”

“Damn. Where in the station is the incursion?”

“We’re not sure it’s in the station, sir. Best we can determine is that it’s somewhere within two light-seconds of Stellvia. Beyond that...” the duty officer shook her head.

Noah paled. “Two light-seconds...” he said, staring at the screen, “for the incursion to burn out the sensors from that far away it must have been huge. Get Miyuri and Takami up here - I want an analysis of the data the sensor returned just before it burned out. We’ve got to find this thing, people.”

Safety drifted up to Noah’s ear. “Noah-san, VVS Korolev is on priority channel one, they want to speak with Kohran-san.”

Noah sat down and unlocked his private workstation. “I’ll take it here, Safety,” he said. Clicking on the monitor: “Hello, Mal.”

“Sorry Dad, wrong Soviet.”

Noah blinked. “Sora?”

“Do you have any other Red daughters I don’t know about?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to talk to Kohran, please.”

“She’s a little busy, and we’re in the middle--”

“Of a huge dimensional incursion event a couple of minutes ago?” Sora asked.

“How did you know that?”

Sora smiled. “Come on, Dad, you didn’t think Kohran wouldn’t share with her neechan?”

Noah didn’t have a good comeback to that one, so he let it slide. “Is this something I can help you with?” he asked.

A muffled voice from behind Sora: (“What’s the holdup?”)

(“It’s Noah; Kohran’s busy,”) Sora replied. Then, to Noah: “Dad, we need your DQS readings, can you squirt it to us? I’m going to see if Kohran’s interferometer idea works and try to triangulate the event location.”

Noah glanced at Safety, who nodded sharply. “Data’s on the way, Sora.” he said.

Sora looked offscreen. “Got it,” she said. “Thanks, Dad. I’m running the results now.” She dropped out of view, leaving Noah face to face with Mal Fnord.

Noah found himself at a bit of a loss. “So, um,” he said, “how are things over there?”

“Hectic,” Mal replied dryly. “You?”

“Much the same.” The briefest of awkward pauses. “Do we know what we’re dealing with here?”

Mal paused. “Not yet. We have some really bad suspicions, but we’re running the data before panicking.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Mal paused again, this time for longer. “Just after the incursion detector blew up, GLaDOS saw a huge chunk of the Internet backbone go missing.”

Noah ran the implications of that through his mind. “Oh,” he said faintly, “that’s not good.”

Mal nodded. “No it isn’t, which is why I want confirmation before--”

Sora popped back up into frame, eyes wide and face just as pale as her father’s. “I’ve got a location,” she said shakily. “The event epicenter w-was Earth, longitude 39 degrees, 50 minutes north, latitude 98 degrees, 35 minutes west. The approximate radius of effect was 2100 kilometers.”

Dead silence on both ends of the line.

“Well, fuck.” Mal said it with deep feeling.

“In accordance with the rules set down in the Articles of Convention,” Noah said heavily, “I am calling an emergency SMOFCon and Convention, to be held immediately.”

Mal nodded, eyes grim. “You round up the troops, I’m going to start recon, get some data on what’s going down. Be sure to get everybody, Noah. No stragglers.”

“Everybody?”

“Everybody. As Buckaroo might say, right now we’re all on the Global Frequency.”
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Dartz]

Well. I'll have a go. At least to show what the ordinary Fen in orbit would've noticed. Done to work with either US, or world shift. They only have current LOS with ground stations in the US at the time. Not too familiar with TL-191, so feel free to correct this.

“Look, we can't carry that much pressurised,” Garret spoke into the telephone, “We don't have enough space aboard,”

He yawned. It was too damned late for this.

“What about a cabin?” queried the voice. “If you weren't carrying passengers, you could stick some in free cabins?”

“That's not going to be cheap,” Captain Garret warned him. Never mind that on a Seattle trip, they'd probably have been empty going back up anyway.

“I can handle it, so long as you can handle American,”

“We prefer Euro's but sure, no problem on both. Pay us in cash at the dock,”

Payment upfront, as usual, to order fuel.

“No problemo man. Don't think you'll be gettin' in tonight though, there's some weird weather we got down here."

"Don't doubt the Ciara. We'll get in on time," he reassured him.

"I hope so man, I'l...fhsh...ee...you in ...jasshh,” Garret winced as the channel cut out with a static scream in his hear.

“Hello,” he tried.

Nothing but a hiss.

“Jimmy, you there bud?”

Silence

“Hello?” he tried one last time. “Bugger,”

“Come to bed,” Meg said sleepily from behind him. It's passed midnight.

Tempting, “The high-gain's buggered itself again.”

“Well it can wait until tomorrow. You work yourself too much,”

“That's the definition of Captain,” he smiled back at her. “I'll just sort this. It's probably nothing”

He contacted the bridge.

---->>

Milly Jackson had her feet up in the rebuilt server room, yawning as she watched the download come in. Stupid 'danelaw server was only pushing a few megabytes a second. She'd planned to get Sam, Seán and Sed back up and running hours ago, but the Fenspace mirror had crashed, so the only working one with decent speed was somewhere in the US.

She watched the bytes tick by.

Then stop.

Error: The source location on the server could not be read

She swore.

And tried to restart.

Error: Server not found.

She ping'd the local relay. It answered. She pinged the nearest node. It answered. She pinged her favourite Yaoi site. It answered. She pinged the download server.

Nothing.

She pinged Google.fen. It answered. She pinged her old home server back in Detroit. Nothing. She pinged Google.com, specifically trying the Mountain View address. Nothing. Then the orbital relays stopped answering.

“Oh for Cryin' out loud,” It looked like something had failed between orbit and ground. They could get Fensites fine, but nothing from below. They must've lost the base station. “That gosh-darned high-gain's gone down again,” she concluded.

She picked up the intercom, and called the bridge.

---->>

Aisha was busy in the engine room, doing the repair Orla had asked her to handle on number-two engine. One of the advantages of being a c'tarl-c'tarl type catgirl... she had nails that could be used to lever open access panels on the crankcase.

The other advantage, was that she was strong enough to easily lift the head off the cylinder all by herself, then lift the piston out from inside.

Third, she didn't have to worry about being biomodded by the black handwavium inside.

She didn't notice anything amiss.

---->>

On the bridge, Misha, Aisha's twin sibling by virtue of going through the machine ten minutes after her, was the one on watch... she stared at the comm's panel.

“Captain, Captain,” she said, sounding impossibly giddy thanks to having just downed her daily can of soft drink, “It's not us I swear.” she pushed a few buttons to be doubly sure, “High gain checks out A-Ok! We're sending and receiving, it's got to be a ground problem,”

“Try and find another downlink,” he ordered.

“Already on it,” she beamed, “But it looks like everything down in the litterbox has gone dead. I'm getting more than a lot of chatter on the radio too”

“Calm down will you. What are they saying?”

“Sorry,” she giggled. “Bad time of the day. Most are saying the same as us. They just lost all 'net and radio connections on this side of the planet,”

Outside the window, she could see the United States shrouded in night, a few sparks of light in the shadows marking the cities.

Hmm... it looked different somehow. There was less light on the Eastern side.

“Alright, I'm on my way up,”

She heard someone complain the in background before he hung up. A moment later, the call light lit up again.

“Bridge Misha,” she answered it.

“Misha,” the catgirl recognised Milly's voice. She sounded tired “Did we lose the high-gain again?”

“No no,” she reassured the computer tech, “High gain is working fine.“ she triple checked, “The problem's in the connection, and it's not just us,”

“Right, I'm coming up there. Hang on.”

The catgirl sighed. The first time they let her keep watch, and it wasn't going very well, was it?

---->>

Paul Platowski was in his cabin... legally also his prison cell.

He was woken, not by anything specific... just a dread feeling of unease. It was a feeling he'd learned well enough not to ignore. The last time he'd gotten it, had been right before his ship's engines had failed.

Which got him arrested.

He rolled over in his rack, lifting the blind that covered the porthole.

On the other side, should've been the United States, with the entire East Coast blazing. Instead... while the basic shape looked the same. The basic positions of the lights seemed right. They seemed a hell of a lot dimmer and smaller.

“What the hell?” he said to no-one in particular.

He got himself out of bed. Whatever was going on, was no small thing.

---->>

“So that's it Captain. The whole lot's just not answering.” Misha finished her explanation.

Garret yawned and looked around

“Somebody took down the earthside receivers,” he concluded, “Which took down phone lines too, because they go through the same circuits,”

At least, he thought they did.

“Must be!” Misha chirruped, painfully cheerful

“What's everyone else saying?”

“The same thing basically. Everyone's going crazy. Major faction sites are starting to overload,”

Great. Just great, thought the Captain.

“Keep trying,” he ordered. “Listen for any signal at all coming up from the ground. Maybe we'll get some news from a major station.”

“Aye Captain,” she smiled.

Which made him smile slightly. “Good work,”

Yawning, he sat down in his customary chair, trying to figure out what was going on. A terrorist attack on the 'danelaw?

Milly burst through the hatch,

“Captain,” she blinked, surprised to see him there.

“It's not us,” Garret explained. “It's affecting all of Fenspace too,”

Milly's face turn the same shade of green as her hair. What could bring down the freakin' internet? Did somebody take out the downlinks? Had Congress pulled the plug on it using some sort of secret top-kill? Why?

She took the pilot's seat, not that she actually could fly the ship.

“Captain, I'm getting something from Earth,” Misha announced, “It's sounds funny though, on AM radio.”

“Put it through,”

"My name is Jake Featherston, and I'm here to tell you the Truth." announced the speakers, before launching into a speech that sounded much like a dub of Adolf Hitler. With an American twang.

“I've heard that name before,” said Milly, calmly. “Where have I heard it?”

“Dunno, it's your head,” Misha giggled.

“Freedom!” cheered the crowd on the radio, “Freedom!” As the speaker promised the final solution the negro menace.

“Great, we picked up Klan FM,” deadpanned Garret.”Shut it off. Try and find something better,”

“AM,” Misha corrected him, “And done,”

The voice of Jake Featherston died abruptly, halfway through the word 'miscegenation'.

A few moments of silence, while the Captain, the catgirl and the computer specialist tried to understand what they'd just heard. Another button on Misha's panel lit up, flashing in time to an electronic chirp.

She pushed it, to be rewarded by a simple text message sent to the entire fandom.

“Captain,” she said, calmly, “Noah Scott of Stellvia just called an emergency convention,”

Silence again. The ship's engines kept running. Garret exhaled a long sigh, remembering what had happened the last time he'd heard the words 'emergency convention'... and what had happened to good friends of his afterwards.

“Alright,” he stood up, adjusting his old jacket, the one he'd had since launch day. “We need everyone awake. Bring the ship to battlestations,”

Well, good luck getting any sleep tonight.

---->>

The SS Ciara was one of hundreds of Fenships in cislunar space that night. Much the same scene was played out on every bridge, cockpit, control room or CIC. Some who heard the Featherston broadcast knew immediately, while some remained in the dark until long after they received the convention message.

________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Cobalt Greywalker]

And it wasn't exactly unnoticed further out either.
(Note: I'm going for a U.S. transition here, but it's easy enough to change)

---

As much as it might seem, A.C. wasn't prescient, just very good at spotting patterns. She'd thought of doing a detailed map of the space around the Forge years ago, but with one thing and another never got around to it.

Eddie had different plans, not so limited to just the space around their home. He wanted the entire system at least.

When she'd disallowed him taking the Stallion on a survey mission, he'd just got Leonard involved building an advanced version of the Stallion's sensor array, sized for the Forge. It had taken a bit of work, and once they'd crunched the numbers a bit of negotiation to those in the 50 light-second radius it would inconvenience when on at full power, but they'd got agreement for a series of 5 minute scans over the course of a week. The results they'd publish, with a copy for the Artemis Foundation.

With typical perversity, the agreed time was set at 23:58 to 00:03 GMT. When normal people would be asleep. As they were Fen, it didn't count.

A.C. was actually sleeping (or as close to it as she could manage, which was very close actually) when her eyes snapped open. It would be a few days before an idle thought let them realise her eye opened precisely at Midnight, to the microsecond. She was out of bed and running within 100 milliseconds, just as alarms started blaring.

She yelled over the com-net, slipping on a sheer and small silk robe as she ran nude down the corridor.

Eddie replied, his voice calm and collected as was typical when a crisis was upon them.

Leonard broke in, sounding worried. Not that the cyberneticist blamed him.

The Raven hared cyber didn't mince words.

[Star Ranger4]

Murphy Murphy winced as the Flegg's AI 'Gonzo' clucked out the first few bars of Ray Steven's "Just us Chickens". It was the audio cue that represented an incoming call from a very short list of Priority numbers, and Murphy hated it. But trying to change it made the quirky AI and ship even less reliable...

"Flegg. Murphy."

"Murphy. Where the hell are you?"

"About halfway between Cis-Lunar and Mars, Don Antonio. With a load of manure you picked up from someone who owed you daneside for Phobos"

"See if you can scare that chicken then. Something major is going down Dirtside, and the SMOF have just called an emergency convention on Oddessy."

"And I'm the family representative?"

"As always."

"Flegg copies all Don Antonio, Flegg out."
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[robkelk]

“I need to talk to Kohran, please.”

“She’s a little busy, and we’re in the middle--”

“Of a huge dimensional incursion event a couple of minutes ago?” Sora asked.

“How did you know that?”

Sora smiled. “Come on, Dad, you didn’t think Kohran wouldn’t share with her neechan?”

After the Interdimensional Incursion Incident, the DQS Sensor would have gone from "Stellvian curiosity" to "shared if anyone asks about it". Noah would expect Sora to have built one for her new workshop, along with A.C., Buckaroo, Katz, The Jason, and maybe Joe Corcoran (everyone who'd actually had contact with The Girls). It's up to BA whether Ben and Gina would have asked about dimensional sensors...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

"About halfway between Cis-Lunar and Mars, Don Antonio. With a load of manure you picked up from someone who owed you daneside for Phobos"

"Dump it and get back to Cis-Lunar toot sweet. Something major is going down Dirtside, and the SMOF have just called an emergency convention."

Dumping the load isn't necessary - Noah held the Convention at Odyssey, in Mars orbit.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

Looking at the readings, A.C. felt a cold pit start to form in the bottom of her stomach.

~ I do hope he kept a full copy from the Girls. We'll need it. ~

"Stellvia is calling us, actually."

"Hardly a surprise. Put them through."

A video window appeared in the holodisplay, with Noah's face filling the virtual screen. "A.C., we have a problem."

She nodded at the NASA-like understatement, and returned it. "I noticed."

"Of course. I've called an emergency Convention - Safety is sending the official notice to the SMOF and all-call mailing lists as we speak, Kagome is coordinating with Buckaroo to call everyone with a go-phone, and Yuu's recording a video announcement for the press. Officially, the Con will be at Odyssey, starting the day after tomorrow. Unofficially, I'm gathering all the Mads I can reach right away, and that includes you. When can you make it to Mars?"

"I'll gather some data here before I leave, but I should be there by noon."

"Thanks. A.C., could you do me a big favor?"

"That depends on the favor."

"Earth orbit isn't safe any more. Would you be willing to take in two long-term guests?"

"Leda and Helen?"

He nodded.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

Noah had spent an hour calling every Mad he could think of - the Professor, the Jason, A.C., Kohran, Sora, Shizuka... even Fred McManus. Now he'd opened the sealed section of the Whole Fenspace Catalog, searched the research theology section for the ritual he needed, and got Safety and Kohran to help with the casting.

He was calling somebody else. With any luck, she'd pick up.

Just as Noah was about to tell the others to stop wasting time on a ritual that wasn't working, a thin black line appeared in the air in front of him. It opened to become a portal, through which a young woman stepped. "You called?"

"Yes, I... You're the Goddess of Gates and Ways?"

She sighed. "Why does everybody ask that the first time they meet me?"

"It's just... well..."

"Yes, fine, I already know what you're going to say. Consider it said and let's move on. You called?"

Noah spent a few minutes explaining what had happened. "... and I was hoping that you might know where our home went, and who's down there right now."

"Whatever happened here, it had nothing to do with me."

"But you're the Goddess of Gates..."

"...and Ways. That doesn't mean I personally open every dimensional gateway."

Noah was devastated. "I was hoping you could bring them back. My father, my brother and his family, and my wife's family were all down there when the shift happened."

She sighed deeply. "I'm sorry. Right now, that's beyond my power. I don't even know where they are."

"Can you look?"

"I'll try, but I can't promise you anything. And I have to leave now; somebody in another worldline wants to speak with me." And she was gone.

"Thank you anyway," Noah whispered. Then he wiped away a tear and raised his voice. "Okay, people, let's get to Odyssey. We've got some high-tension thinkers to point at this mess."

---

OOC: Safety and Kohran are the two people on Noah's staff with the most spiritual energy, and thus the best chance of summoning a deity. And the Goddess of Gates and Ways is the first being Noah would summon in a situation like this one...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

<nods approvingly>
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[M Fnord]

More content! This time it's the revised intro. --Mal

---

part the zeroth: where we learn a little about how the world works

"Everything happens for a reason."

That's what most of us are taught, and for a broad enough definition of ‘reason,' it happens to be true. Cause and effect is one of the basic mechanisms of the Cosmos.

Some of us are taught that there are Prime Movers out there that are responsible for things happening. And that's true, to an extent: none of the Prime Movers out there exist outside the Cosmos, they all spring from the same explosion (or implosion, or jes' happened) of matter that makes up stars, planets and little mortal things like us. But there are Prime Movers out there, working their will on the fabric of the Cosmos.

The dirty little secret is that every last one of those Prime Movers are also titanic assholes. The theologian on the street might prefer the term "ineffable," and claim that it's not our place to know what their motives are, but let's face it: they're assholes.

Today, we're going to look at the works of one group of the Prime Movers, best known throughout the Cosmos as the Alien Space Bats. The Space Bats are beings of vast and incomprehensible intellect who like to play with branches of the infinite multiverse. Nobody knows how they do it, and nobody knows why they do it; those inclined to theorize think that it's the cosmic-being equivalent of a schoolyard argument. Whatever the reasoning, the Space Bats have focused their attention on two universes.

The first universe is one not to dissimilar from our own, but in some ways it's very different. Here, a small thing overlooked - somebody remembered to pick up a packet of cigars left behind - led to incredible changes. The world of Timeline-191 is one of nearly-perpetual war, with the next big one only a few months away. The quasi-fascist alliance of the British Empire, the Kingdom of France and the Confederate States of America are powering up the machinery of war, while the militaristic, jingoistic and only slightly better nations of the Second Reich and the United States of America wait for the hammer to fall.

The second universe is a world in flux. The miracle substance called handwavium has enabled the conquest of the solar system. The new power on the block is the Fenspace Convention, a rough alliance of science-fiction fans, otaku and other assorted nerds who've taken the promise inherent in handwavium and run with it. The rest of the world is cautious, waiting to see how the Convention survives. While things aren't as good as they could be, this world is enjoying a period of relative peace and prosperity. The Fen are in the heavens, and all's right with the world.

Neither world is aware of the other. The Fen recently learned that the Cosmos is much greater and stranger than they knew, but the demands of colonization and civilization have kept them from exploring across the timelines. The people of Timeline-191 have no knowledge, ability or interest in such things; the physics necessary to describe the situation hasn't been invented there yet.

In the ordinary state of affairs, the paths of the Fen and Timeline-191 would never cross. But these are not the ordinary state of affairs.

The Alien Space Bats have taken an interest in these two timelines, and the changes they'll make will shatter conceptions, change minds and reduce paradigms to splinters. It's the last few minutes of November 18th, 2016 in Fenspace and 1940 in TL-191. When the clock strikes midnight, the Space Bats will make their move and things will get very strange.

The hall is rented, the orchestra engaged. Everybody take their places, please. It's time to engage in a little comic-opera we like to call...

(music_LOAD: " World" Red, Innocence & Instinct)

The South Is Rising
(Someone Get A Hammer)
a Fenspace Infinities story
directed by S. M. Breen & acted by the Fenspace Collective

---

Whaddya think, sirs?
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Dartz]

Give this a go.

"Where is this?" Garret asked

"Odyssey Station, Mars orbit," Meg read the message.

Ray turned to Orla "What's our fuel?"

"Just over ten thousand. Nowhere near enough," she answered. "We're going to have to refuel to get out there,"

"Right," he nodded, "Were our stores on Stellvia replenished?"

"The shipment was tomorrow," Micheal Perry answered, gravely. "Which means they probably aren't going to be,"

"Milly, any luck getting a downlink signal?"

"No, everything's being overloaded by everyone else trying to do the same thing. The whole lot's just collapsing. It's like the United States isn't even there anymore,"

"What are we getting on the news,"

"The Litterbox is just as puzzled as we are," Anne answered. "Misha's still down in the server room trying to get something. Keith and Paul are on the television in the break room. They're saying the same thing... the States have gone quiet, and nobody knows why. We're not getting any television from them at all, just a few strange AM radio broadcasts. The rest of the world think's it some sort of terrorism, but they don't know what."

"Most major markets have stopped trading," Kearney said "But from what I saw on our last orbit, it was chaos down there. People were assuming it was terrorism."

"This is beyond terrorism, you don't just make a country disappear," Meg snapped him down. "And you should hear some of the weird crap we're getting. A Confederate States of America. A President Featherston who sounds like a Kentucky Fried Hitler. Not to mention music straight out of World War Two."

Milly went deadly quiet..

"When we get over Europe, everything's normal... well, as normal as possible." the comm's officer continued. Garret put his hand on her shoulder.

"And it's not just us getting this?" Paul Platowski asked, from the Pilot's chair.

"No," answered Meg.

"Anybody also notice how different the night view of the States was?" he asked. "Much less light than I remember. The power grid could have partially collapsed, and taken down US orbital internet links with it,"

"That doesn't explain the weird radio," said Orla. "If that was the case, it should be their civil defense or something,"

"We got a high particle spike on the solar radiation detectors aswell," Anne said, reading from her monitor, "Fractions of a second after midnight, lasting less then half a second. It was so short the computer assumed it was an error and ignored it, but the timing is too close to be a coincidence,"

Garret sat down in his chair. "And there was my phone call that cut out at exactly midnight too," he thought for a second. "When are we next over the US?"

"About twenty-five minutes," Platowski answered. "It'll be nightime down down there,"

"Right. I want a recording of every broadcast we can pick up from down there. Try and focus on ones featuring the Confederate States of America, or Featherston. Meg... when you've got them, I want you send them publicly, along with our radiation data, and our surface observations."

"Aye," she nodded, her voice quivering.

"Somebody might see it and be able to make heads or tails of it. Everyone else, rig the ship for landing. We have to refuel, we're going to do it somewhere safe. Plot course to land off Haulbowline,"

"Aye Captain," Platowski responded.

"Aisha should have the engine ready by then," Orla told him.

It was funny. They'd cursed their luck when that engine'd failed but if it hadn't, they would've been tied up in Seattle port and have been right in the middle of whatever happened.

Milly Jackson spent the next half-hour silently staring out a window. She had a dreadful idea about what had just happened... but that was impossible.

---->>

From: (SS Ciara, Communications), comms@roadrunner.fen
To: all-call@nation.fen
Date: 19/11/16
Subject: United States Incident

We were in low orbit over the United States when this occurred. Our Captain was in the middle of
a phone call to Seattle, which was interrupted at exactly midnight. All ground communications
with the US were lost at the same time. We picked up a momentary particle radiation surge on
our solar radiation detectors fractions of a second later.

The States themselves look different from orbit. There's less light coming from the cities then
there was before midnight, the whole US is much darker at night. We have some photographs.

There are no television signals that we can pick up, or FM radio. We did pick up a few AM radio
broadcasts, and made a recording of these on our last pass. They talk of a Confederate States of
America, a President Featherston, and some sort of Freedom rally, that sounds more like a Ku Klux
Klan event than anything political. The music we picked up sounds like something from the 40's.
The recordings are attached, along with the pictures.

We have to land to refuel, but we're hoping somebody could make heads or tails out of this, we're stumped.

-Meg Fitzpatrick
SS Ciara Comm's Officer

----------------------

For charter or hire. Contact captain@roadrunner.fen

----------------------

Attachments: klan_freedom_rally.ogg, featherston_news.ogg, music.ogg US_east_dark.png, US_west_dark.png.

---->>

Not sure about message formatting.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[robkelk]

OOC: Questions...

Are we going with a country-swap or a world-swap?

Are we keeping the Homeline/Centrum subplot? If "yes", then Noah doesn't need to waste time trying to implement Contingency Plan #3... if he can cut a deal with Maico. (Specifically, give Maico an office on Stellvia so she can act as ambassador from Homeline in exchange for Leda and Helen being evacuated to a "safer" worldline until everybody figures out what happened.)

Are we going to bother describing the Convention, or just cut straight to Operation FREEFALL?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

Whaddya think, sirs?

Possible one-line description for the Fenspace Infinities Story Archive: "November 18 (and following), 2016: Shift happens."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012